EUN Jeong Cho has been announced as the winner of the Friday, July 23 “Road to 80” vaccination raffle.
Cho, who said she was vaccinated last month, received $1,500 in cash on Tuesday.
The “Road to 80” vaccination campaign was launched earlier this month and will run until late August in an effort to reach 80% herd immunity in the Commonwealth’s fight against the global Covid-19 pandemic.
There will be weekly drawings every Friday at 5 p.m. for more cash prizes.
Starting Friday, July 16, 2021, weekly winners were chosen at random to bring home these cash prizes: $1,000 for the first week; $1,500 for the second; $2,000 for the third; $2,500 for the fourth; $3,000 for the fifth; $3,500 for the sixth; and $4,000 for the seventh and final week.
The weekly Friday drawings are open for those who are fully vaccinated or registered to be fully vaccinated by 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2021.
Individuals who have already been vaccinated in the CNMI are automatically entered in the raffle.
Winners will be contacted by phone and email using the information provided on https://www.vaccinatecnmi.com
To claim their prizes, winners will need to provide proof that they are fully vaccinated.
If a winner does not respond within 72 hours of the first time they were contacted, a new winner will be chosen.
Additionally, grand drawing winners will be announced at the Taste of the Marianas main stage on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021.
Grand drawing prizes include a $2,500 “bonus draw,” a $5,000 “mini-grand” prize, a $15,000 “grand prize,” and a 2020 Nissan Rogue Sport sport utility vehicle.
To date, over 31,000 individuals are eligible for the “Road to 80” weekly Friday drawings.
As of Tuesday, July 27, the CNMI needed 4,097 more individuals within its eligible population to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to finally reach its 80% herd immunity goal.
The “Road to 80” Covid-19 vaccination campaign is a public/private partnership among the CNMI Office of the Governor, the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, Bridge Capital LLC, City Trust Bank, Helios Engineering Group, HBR International, IT&E, Joeten Enterprises Inc., the Marianas Visitors Authority, McDonald’s Saipan, the Mobil stations of Oleai, Chalan Kiya, and Kagman, Naked Fish Bar & Grill, POI Aviation, and Tan Holdings Corporation.
Doing it right
“We’ve done so well over the year with Covid. We only get one chance to do it right, and we’ve done it right, and we continue to do it right. Now it’s just that last push of having the remaining citizens, business partners, educators to come out and get vaccinated,” Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said.
“I want to, again, thank and congratulate those who have been vaccinated. Again, we continue to push forward in giving more incentives.”
The administration initially donated $50,000 to the vaccination campaign, and on Thursday, added another $50,000.
“This is an incentive for everyone that has been vaccinated, and we’re encouraging those who have not been vaccinated [to get vaccinated so] that we can reach our 80 [percent herd immunity,” the governor said.
Vaccination campaign spokesman Brad Ruszala said with these additional funds, the campaign will be restructured to give out even more prizes.
He noted that there are also in-kind prizes that still need to be given out, such as $500 worth of cards from McDonald’s of Saipan, $500 worth of gas cards from Mobil, as well as a Samsung S20 with two months of free service from IT&E.
CNMI Covid-19 Task Force Chairman Warren Villagomez, for his part, said the Commonwealth is targeting the 12- to 22-year-old demographic, noting that the task force is working closely with public and private schools on this campaign.
He noted that the CNMI is looking to reach herd immunity no later than Saturday, Aug. 28.
Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna, for her part, said, “No one is getting forced to get their shot. We’re just simply saying that if you haven’t made your decision, this is the perfect time to do it… because [there are] prizes. I know that some people have been… trying to find the right time to do it, and that’s okay. That’s perfectly fine. We want you to make that decision when you’re ready, and if you need more information, please reach out to us. We are seeing more people every day that are making that decision, and we’re very grateful for that.”
Warning
The “Road to 80” vaccination campaign would also like to warn its followers of two individuals posing as representatives of the campaign in the comment section of its own social media posts.
Dominic Nicholson and George Hugley have been identified as the two individuals who have been posing as representatives of the campaign, encouraging individuals to reach out to them directly to “claim their winnings.”
The campaign announced on Saturday that neither Nicholson nor Hugley are official representatives of the campaign, and have since been banned from the official campaign Facebook page.
Both of their pages have been reported to Facebook.
“You know we’re getting popular when the scammers find us. Stay alert, CNMI,” the campaign posted on their official Facebook page this past weekend.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/roadto80cnmi
The Covid-19 vaccine is available for persons 12 years of age or older. To register and schedule an appointment to get vaccinated, visit https://www.vaccinatecnmi.com or call 682-SHOT (7468) between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. any day of the week.
On Tuesday, Eun Jeung Cho, 2nd left, the winner of last Friday’s “Road to 80” weekly raffle, poses with her cash prize with CNMI Covid-19 vaccination campaign spokesman Brad Ruszala, right. Eun Jeung Cho and Seonghwan Kwak, left, are co-owners of Deep Blue Scuba Diving & Adventure.
